Residential land: RTÉ is to cash in on the booming housing market by selling off a development site of 4.5 acres at Beaumont in Dublin 9, writes Jack Fagan, Property Editor
No guide price is being quoted in advance of the sale by tender on June 23rd but, given the strong demand for development land in the suburbs, it will be no surprise if it makes around €20 million.
The national broadcaster, which is due to report a small profit for 2003 after losing €56 million in 2002, is also expected to review is use of the 32-acre campus at Montrose, Dublin 4, with a view to offloading part of it. Unlike the Montrose land, the site at Collinswood, off Beaumont Avenue, is already zoned for residential use and can be redeveloped as soon as planning permission is obtained.
Ronan Webster of CB Richard Ellis Gunne, who is handling the sale, says the land is suitable for a high density residential development and would ideally suit a mixed apartment and duplex development of one, two and three-bedroom homes.
With the land located beside public transportation and close to the city centre, it will inevitably quality for a high density scheme in line with Government's policy of making the maximum use of redevelopment sites.
On this basis, the purchaser could expect to get planning permission for up to 200 homes on the site which is within walking distance of Beaumont Hospital, Marino Institute of Education, St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, and Dublin City University.
Many of Dublin's leading housebuilders are expected to pitch for the site in the knowledge that there is a pent-up demand for new homes in the Beaumont area.
The Collinswood site has been owned by RTÉ for over 60 years and was formerly used as a medium wave fill-in transmitter, a facility that is now obsolete given advances in radio technology. The Gunne agency says that the proposed sale of the land "forms part of a disposal of surplus assets within the RTÉ property portfolio".
Inevitably, the station will also seek a buyer for part of the 32-acre Montrose grounds, worth an estimated €100 million. Both commercial and residential developers have been keeping a close eye on the grounds since the station ran into trading difficulties. RTÉ critics contend that the State broadcaster has been over generous to itself in maintaining a parkland setting.
With well-located land at a premium in the city, other organisations have resorted to providing underground and multi-storey car-parking. RTÉ employees have the advantage of not only large landscaped grounds but also about 850 car-parking spaces, most of them at surface level. Though the campus is presently zoned for institutional use, there would be little difficulty in having it rezoned for residential use given that it is in the centre of one of the city's most fashionable residential areas.
